The U.S. will continue to research other directed energy weapons, as the Laser Weapon System (LaWS) deployed on the USS Ponce in 2014. U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Peter D. Blair/DVIDS

The Department of Defense doesn’t think they could be weaponized soon enough.

* The DoD, which showed interest in neutral particle beams earlier this year, now thinks they’re too hard to field anytime soon.* Particle beams work by using atomic and subatomic particles to “melt” their target.* The Pentagon wanted to use neutral particle beams to shoot down incoming ballistic missiles during takeoff phase.

The Department of Defense is pushing hard into directed energy technologies, particularly lasers, but there’s one weapon that won’t be deployed in the field anytime soon: neutral particle beams (NPBs). Just over a year after announcing a renewed interest into the tech the Pentagon has decided to shelve research into NPBs, stating that they were “not near term enough.” Translation: even with military funding the services wouldn’t see a particle beam weapon soon enough to make worthwhile.